The atmosphere had been terrific from the beginning to the end. More than 6.000 fans of PAOK transformed Geneva into Thessaloniki and Patinoire de Vernets into Alexandrion. The battle was epic and Manuel Comas’ CAI Zaragoza proved to be a worthy opponent. The Spanish team had control of the game, leading 31-36 at half-time, while PAOK with Dragan Sakota in the bench got early on in serious foul trouble. Fassoulas was fouled out very early in the game, with Papachronis and Ioannou having the same fate and relying on Makaras to play the center position at the end, an actual small forward. The game was interrupted since the fans of our team were enraged by the officiating of Gerard and Cazzaro. It took the team’s President Nikos Vezyrtzis and Captain Panagiotis Fassoulas to address the fans on microphone in order for the game to resume. The end of the game was heart-stopping, since PAOK succeeded in coming back from trailing by 8 (51-59) with Prelevic and Barlow making amazing performances and reaching the final 76-72 victory that gave him the precious trophy...
PAOK (22/31 free throws, 21/42 twos, 4/16 threes, 30 rebounds)
Prelevic 31, Barlow 20, Stavropoulos 15, Fassoulas 7, Ιoannou 3, Makaras, Papachronis, Boudouris.
CAI ZARAGOZA (22/32 free throws, 13/30 twos, 8/15 threes, 29 rebounds)
Davis 24, Magee 17, F. Arcega 15, Andreu 8, Ruiz 5, J.A Arcega 1, Zapata 2, Murcia, Hernandez.
THE ROAD TO THE FINAL
The beautiful journey to conquering the European Cup Winners Cup, began on October 23, 1990 against Sunderland Basket in England. Although with difficulty, PAOK won 96-89, setting the foundation to qualify for the groups round, with an oddity marking the said game. PAOK was coached by Sakis Laios, with Dragan Sakota sitting in the Arena’s bleachers, who had already agreed on taking over the team, and got to watch it play its first European game of the season before the agreement with PAOK was made official. Sakota made his actual debut in the second game that was held in Alexandrion on October 30, 1990. PAOK won 97-85 and qualified for the next round.
The groups draw would bring PAOK against his final’s opponent, CAI Zaragoza and Red Star Belgrade, as well as Hapoel Galil Elyon. The team started off in Spain with a loss to Zaragoza for the team’s group stage premiere. Return to Thessaloniki and a relatively tough victory against Red Star in Alexandrion 91-80. It was the first of the three back to back victories for PAOK in the group stage. As it turned out, they were the only victories the team made, which nevertheless gave PAOK the qualification to the semis in a very adventurous manner.
PAOK beat Hapoel Galil Elyon with great ease and a score of 107-77 for the 3rd day of the tournament, giving way to a superb game against Zaragoza in Thessaloniki. Bane Prelevic scores 41 points for PAOK (which is a career high for him, although repeated after that), that wins the game 112-102 in a basketball extravaganza. PAOK’s journey to Belgrade is not going to be a happy one, since Red Star comfortably wins the game 91-75, when a most unpleasant surprise comes in the last day of the tournament. Due to the Gulf war, Hapoel Galil Elyon uses the Peristeri court in Athens as its home court, PAOK practically plays at home, but loses the game 80-79. However, the combination of the rest of the results does not prove fateful. PAOK wins qualification to the semis with the tie-breakers…
The results for PAOK in the group stage were...
(11.12.90) CAI Zaragoza - PΑΟΚ: 70-64
(18.12.90) PΑΟΚ - Red Star Belgrade: 91-80
(08.01.91) PΑΟΚ - Hapoel Galil Elyon: 107-77
(15.01.91) PΑΟΚ - CAI Zaragoza: 112-102
(22.01.91) Red Star Belgrade - PΑΟΚ: 91-75
(29.01.91) Hapoel Galil Elyon - PΑΟΚ: 80-79
The February of 1991 will only be bringing happy memories to everyone, unlike what had happened a year earlier. In 1990, PAOK had played the semis of the Cup Winners Cup for the first time, but did not make it against Virtus Knorr Bologna. A year later, the team returned, clearly stronger and more seasoned and this time succeeded against Dynamo Moscow, even if it was by just one point. In a packed Alexandrion, PAOK won 95-82 and went to the freezing Russian capital to defend a 13 point margin, which was enough to finally grant PAOK the qualification. PAOK lost 75-63, that is a 12 point difference, with Pete Papachronis playing a decisive role in the last minutes of the game.
The results for PAOK in the semis...
(12.02.91) PΑΟΚ - Dynamo Moscow: 95-82
(26.02.91) Dynamo Moscow - PΑΟΚ: 75-63
You can see HERE the photo gallery of the final
Watch special videos from the final...
